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Writing a Book is a Wonderful Gift for your Children

It’s no surprise that my love of reading as a child has turned into a love of writing. My one regret is that I waited so long to become an author. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.

Speaking of catching up, my wife and I had very little luck having children early in our marriage. We adopted after 15 years of marriage and then, in 2008, after 23 years of marriage, we welcomed our first infant into the world. My wife had a very healthy pregnancy for a woman in her mid-forties and we welcomed a 9-pound baby girl into the world. This event is one that has solidified our family and has been one of the best events of my life.

Our little girl is eight now and she is maturing in her reading very quickly. She has also caught onto the fact that I write books. She has been to author events with me and has been bitten by the writing bug. I couldn’t be happier.

About a month ago, she came to an author event that I was participating in and brought one of my books with her and asked me to sign it. She wanted me to sign it with ‘Don Massenzio’ and then put ‘Daddy’ in parentheses. I nearly choked up when she came to me one morning and said she read one of my short stories and really liked it. The story was Lucy’s Christmas Miracle – a story about a dog named Lucy that protects a runaway child. I had a cover designed for this story and the graphic artist had never seen my daughter, but the cover he produced depicted a little girl that looked eerily like her.

As she finishes up 2nd grade and heads into 3rd, I’m doing everything I can to encourage her writing. Just because I started late with my own writing ventures doesn’t mean that she can’t be an early starter. I always use the example of my niece who had a book published as a child and is now a well-respected high school English teacher.

This year, we started integrating writing into her school work. Her teacher gives her spelling and vocabulary words each week. We’ve taken her list of words and I’ve asked her to write a story using the words she was assigned. She has enjoyed this and has several little stories.

In school she has a writing notebook and she has been diligently writing stories all year. She approached me the other day and asked if we can turn her notebook into a real book of children’s stories over the summer. Of course, I was very enthusiastic about helping her do this. It should be fun and I can’t wait to see her face when she holds that first printed book in her hand with her name on it.

When you think of leaving your children a legacy, it doesn’t have to be financial. If you can inspire them to do something like reading or writing, you have succeeded as a parent. Studies have proven that avid readers are smarter and more successful. They also make better learners. The world is a competitive place and if I can instill these literary habits in my daughter, I will be more confident about her future.

So, my fellow authors with children, take the time to inspire them and lead by example. Your children will grow up to be better people and you could not ask for a better legacy.

35 thoughts on “Writing a Book is a Wonderful Gift for your Children”

I really enjoyed reading about your daughter, and her growing passion for reading and writing. You are so right, helping cultivating such a legacy will become one valuable not only to you but her. I like that she seems to have her own niche and innate passion for the art. What an amazing feeling that must be as a father. Thanks for sharing your story about your daughter. I really like you are starting early. It falls in line with train children up in the way he or she should go. I believe that involves watching them young and steering them in the right direction.

Beautiful! I do share some of your particularity… as your wife I had my first kid with 40 and the second with 43. I put into a book all my memories I kept inside many moleskins, and made of it my first novel “The Sun’s Kumihimo” where the main character are my both kids… Emanuele Giosuè is into studing languages (as I did) and when catched up by immagination, he like to write as well. Sara Luna already is writing short stories… which are a funny way to put your wishes into reality.
This is for me as well the most beautiful gift! And my same blog is a kind of diary, with many “events” which will be there for even my grandkids.
Have a splendid Monday
:-)c

Lovely story, Don. I think reading is the one thing you can gift your children – mine were reading by age 4, but I kept reading to them until they were 8 or 9, then they read to me. And I did start writing because of them – to leave stories about me, a little memoir, which morphed into something else completely!.

What a wonderful story. I am sure your daughter is very proud of her author Daddy. Thanks for sharing with us. Children need to be encouraged to follow their dreams. One of my happiest moments was when my grandson introduced me as the guest author to his grade three class.

Exactly. My daughter wanted to be a potter since she was about 8. We did our best to encourage her to follow her dreams. She now lives on an acre of land she owns, on an island of the coast of BC, where she has built her own kiln and pottery studio, and sells her fabulous pottery for a living. With a little encouragement, dreams do come true!! You are on the right track.

Be still my heart. ❤ I love this story. ⭐ Can't wait to see the cover and book once her first efforts are put together this summer. 🐻
I believe in early encouragement as well. Both granddaughters were introduced to baby books as soon as they were able to hold them and turn the cardboard pages. Many books followed over the years. Then came iPads and Tablets. It's not too late but I am holding my breath they will pick up again (ages 12 and eight).

Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Don Massenzio delights in his own writing journey but is also thrilled to be part of his young daughter’s explorations. As he says a legacy does not have to be money.. it can be a love of writing…

What a great and inspirational story. I wish our adopted children would read, as i do. But i guess, we missed reading to them. We hat adopted our twin girls when we were in the forties. They had to learn English first, (That would have been a good opportunity to read, but, well,,) then, we moved from New Zealand to Australia. and here soon after, i was diagnosed with cancer. I waited to die. so I did not much. But finding myself still alive after the crucial two years, i started to write. And now i am the author of the Talon book series. And now it was too late, to get my children to read. But i read a lot and they see it.